For the third straight year, the highest ranked Division I athletic program on the Front Range doesn’t have a football team.

That’s right. The University of Denver, with its broad-based athletic program, is the perfect fit to rack up the points on the Director’s Cup standings. The Pioneers led all area programs in 65th place nationally.

Stanford, thanks to its menu of 28 programs, won its 16th straight national title. In an effort to balance the non-revenue program have’s and have-not’s, only 20 programs can by counted by a school in any given year.

The National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics oversees the standings and establishes scoring system based on post-season success. A championship in skiing counts as much as the national football crown.
(Some naysayers suggest Colorado and Colorado State with their forgettable 3-9 campaigns don’t have football, either.)

CU hadn’t won the area unofficial title since 2007 when the Buffs finished 37th to DU’s 74th.

Here’s the area rankings for the just completed ‘09-‘10 school year: DU, 65th; CU, 69th; Air Force 96th, CSU T123rd; Wyoming, 163rd and Northern Colorado 195th.

DU had points in women’s skiing, men’s ice hockey, women’s gymnastics, men’s lacrosse, women’s golf, men’s tennis. CU always relies on skiing, cross country and track for its points, while CSU gets the bulk of its scoring from volleyball.

CU placed 10th among Big 12 schools and would have ranked ninth among the future 12-school Pac-10. While joining the Pac-10 revives CU’s eternal hopes for adding programs, the new league home is also more competitive. The Big 12 placed four teams in the Top 17 while the Pac-10 landed seven in the Top 25.

Air Force, CSU and Wyoming took the bottom three slots among Mountain West schools.

Although it was publicly announced a week ago, staffers have known about his condition for some time and marvel over his tremendous outlook.

Senior associate athletic directors Gary Ozzello and Christine Susemihl are well suited to share the daily operations. Everyone in the media in this state knows Ozzello was the one who really ran the department during his days as sports information director.

Susemihl has twice held the title of interim athletic director when CSU was between ADs.

And of course, all the best wishes from this corner to Kowalczyk for a speedy recovery.

Kensler joined The Denver Post in 1989 and has covered a variety of beats, including Colorado, Colorado State, golf, Olympics and the Denver Broncos. His brush with greatness: losing in a two-on-two pickup basketball game at Ohio State against two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.